| Classic of Mountains and Seas | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Scrollable pages from volume five of theClassic of Mountains and Seas, aMing dynasty (1368–1644)woodblock printed edition | |||||||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 山海經 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 山海经 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | "Classic of Mountains and Seas" | ||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||
.jpg)
TheClassic of Mountains and Seas, also known asShanhai jing (Chinese:山海经),[1] formerlyromanized as theShan-hai Ching,[2] is aChinese classic text and a compilation of mythic geography[3][4] and beasts. Early versions of the text may have existed since the 4th century BCE,[5][6] but the present form was not reached until the earlyHan dynasty.[6] It is largely afabulous geographical and cultural account of pre-Qin China as well as a collection ofChinese mythology.[citation needed] The book is divided into eighteen sections; it describes over 550mountains and 300channels.
SinceSima Qian, the debate about the author(s) of the book has been going on for more than two thousand years.
The earliest records of theClassic of Mountains and Seas can be found inSima Qian's "Records of the Grand Historian - Biography of Dawan".[7] The author of the book was first clearly identified in "The table of the Classic Mountains and Seas" written byLiu Xiu in theWestern Han dynasty. Liu Xiu believed that theClassic of Mountains and Seas was written byYu the Great andBoyi, during theclassical era aroundXia dynasty.[8]
Wang Chong and Zhao Ye in the EasternHan dynasty also identified the author asBoyi in their works, and was modified by later generations in the process of spreading.[9] In Zhao Ye'sSpring and Autumn Annals of Wu and Yue,Guo Pu'sPreface of Classic Mountains and Seas, and Yan Zhitui'sThe Yan Family's instructions,' all of them supported the idea that the book's authors areYu the Great andBoyi.[10]
However, scholars after theTang dynasty raised doubts about the authenticity of assigning the book's authors asYu the Great andBoyi. Chen Zhensun'sZhizhai Bibliography,Zhu Xi'sAnnotations on Chu Ci: Dialectical Differentiation of Chu Ci, Hu Yinglin'sShaoshi Mountain Room Pen Cluster and others have acknowledged that it is a book written during the classical era, but it is not written byYu the Great andBoyi.[11] Many people also believe that the book was written by the descendants according to a map, which is the text description of the map named "Mountains and Seas".[12]
Zhu Xi from the SouthernSong dynasty and the scholar fromMing dynasty Hu Yinglin believed that the book was written by a curious person during theWarring States period. Hu Yinglin recorded in hisShaoshi Mountain Room Pen Cluster that the book was by "a curious man in the Warring States period", based on the booksTale of King Mu, Son of Heaven andTian Wen.[11]
On the basis of summarizing the research achievements of the previous dynasties scholars, Bi Yuan of theQing dynasty further proposed that different sections of the book were written separately by different authors. He claimed that the "Mountains Classic" was written byYu the Great andBoyi, the "Overseas Classic" and "Inside Seas Classic" were written by people from theQin dynasty, and the "Great Farmland Classic" was produced when Liu Xiu revised it.[8]
Moving to the 20th century, some scholars put forward that the author of the book was Zou Yan in theWarring States period. This theory originated from Liu Shipei, who in his research on "A Study of Zou Yan's Theory on the Plurality of Literature in the Western Han Dynasty" inferred that, according to records inMozi, the bookBiographic of the Great Yu was a combined version ofRecords of the Grand Historian: Biography of Dawan and theClassic of Mountains and Seas, which supports the idea that the book was written by Zou Yan.[8]
In addition, some scholars also believe that the author of the book is written by a disciple ofMozi, named Sui Chaozi, during theWarring States period.[13]
The book is not a narrative, as the "plot" involves detailed descriptions of locations in the cardinal directions of theMountains,Regions Beyond Seas,Regions Within Seas, andWilderness. The descriptions are usually ofmedicines, animals, and geological features. Many descriptions are very mundane, and an equal number are fanciful or strange. Each chapter follows roughly the same formula, and the whole book is repetitious in this way.
It contains many short myths, which rarely exceed a paragraph. A famous ancientChinese myth from this book is that ofYu the Great, who spent years trying to control thedeluge. The account of him is in the last chapter, chapter 18, in the 2nd to last paragraph (roughly verse 40). This account is a much more fanciful account than the depiction of him in theClassic of History.
Earlier Chinese scholars referred to it as abestiary, but apparently assumed it was accurate.[citation needed] In fact, the information in the book is mythological. It is not known why it was written or how it came to be viewed as an accurate geography book.
Ancient Chinese scholars also called it an encyclopedia of geographical knowledge and a strange work with the most myths that records ancient China's "history, philosophy, mythology, religion, medicine, folklore, and ethnicity", reflecting a wide range of cultural phenomena and also involving "geography, astronomy, meteorology, medicine, animals, plants, minerals ..."[14]
Contemporary academia has three main different arguments for the nature of the book:
During this period, the contents of the book were considered authentic and reliable. All the mountains, rivers, strange objects and creatures recorded in the book are credible.
Through this period, the book was regarded as a fictional work. Due to people's increasing cognition of the world and the prevalence of novels in the Ming dynasty and Qing dynasty, the credibility of theClassic of Mountains and Seas gradually decreased. More people started to believe in the Novel Theory.
During this period, researchers gave the book different orientations according to various research directions and theories. Due to the introduction of Western anthropology, folklore/ etc., many scholars regarded the book as a synthesis of various disciplines, using it as a reference for analysis and summarizations.[16]
The mythological creatures first described in Shanhaijing appear in many historical and modern stories and art based on Chinese mythology; for examples, theBa snake, theBi Fang bird, theqiongqi ("thoroughly odd", one of theFour Perils), thetiangou (heavenly dog), thezouyu, etc.
| Title | Publication Date | ISBN |
|---|---|---|
| The Classic of Mountains and Seas by Anne Birrell (Paperback) | January 1, 2001 | 978-0140447194 |
| A Chinese Bestiary: Strange Creatures from the Guideways Through the Mountains and Seas by Richard Strassberg | June 17, 2002 (Hardcover); November 4, 2008 (Paperback) | 978-0520218444 (Hardcover);978-0520298514 (Paperback) |
| Fantastic Creatures of the Mountains and Seas: A Chinese Classic by Jiankun Sun, Siyu Chen, Howard Goldblatt (Hardcover) | June 1, 2021 | 978-1950691388 |
Media related toShan Hai Jing at Wikimedia Commons